Rhyme and reason behind MC's success

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If you looked only at the travel advertisements for New Zealand,
you'd never get the impression it's a hotbed of racial tension. But
it's something Malo Luafatu - aka hip-hop MC Scribe - grew up with
in Christchurch. It was a bit more complicated than a
white-versus-Maori scuffle; Luafatu is a Pacific Islander, the
smallest minority in Christchurch.

"I remember the first time I had a confrontation with skinheads;
I was about nine, and they were grown men," the 25-year-old
recalls.

"My city is one of the only cities that has gangs like KKK,
skinheads, White Power and all these Aryan-race-type gangs."

Talk to anyone from Christchurch and they could probably tell a
story or two about racial violence. But growing up there for
Luafatu wasn't all skinheads and scrapping; it was where he fell in
love with hip-hop and learnt how to rhyme. Sure, it fits the 8
Mile mould perfectly, but Luafatu's rise to the top of his
game is genuine - at 19, he even told his disbelieving parents he
was going to be a world-famous MC. Luafatu is the biggest thing in
antipodean hip-hop right now, outselling his Australian
counterparts in their own territory.

Part of his strength comes from his creative partnership with DJ
and producer P-Money (Pete Waddams). Their latest single, the
rock-tinged Stop the Music, is No.9 on the Australian
charts, and Waddams' work on Luafatu's album The Crusader
was a consolidation of the pair's talents, a tight package of
hip-hop fireworks that went triple-platinum in New Zealand and gold
in Australia.

On stage, they're a team; their explosive performances at the
Big Day Out put their US counterparts to shame.

But with all the praise, accolades and success, Luafatu and
Waddams have endured a barrage of negativity claiming they are too
commercial.

"There's definitely been a lot of hate," he says. "No one has
ever said anything to my face. Just people are frustrated with
their own careers. It makes them feel better to take shots, but
it's a natural thing, you know?"

But, despite what the critics might say, what they do is far
from commercial.

"My goal when I made the album was just to make the album.
Whether anyone bought it or not didn't matter in my eyes."